Some random comments, with references to essays that I have written on these topics. The essays are at http://home.us.net/arnoldsk/aimstindex.html The number of an essay is given in brackets [].(posted 8756 days ago)1. I believe that the most fundamental problem of the information economy is not the problem of information goods but the fact that the critical resource to be allocated has changed from capital to human talent. [12] The institutional changes needed to solve this problem are interesting topics for speculation. [44], [49]
2. Different methods of allocating information goods solve different problems effectively. For example, a "pay by the drink" approach to using Internet content is good for the incentive to produce content, but it can be costly to enforce. See also the idea of "clubs" [9] [10].
3. In this context, "open source" is over-rated. See [34]. Also, I am not excited about the various shopping fads (bots, auctions, etc.) See [43].